Besides my family, the thing I missed the most during my adventures in South Carolina has to be the seasons. Sure there were seasons there... An unbearable summer [side note: so that you understand that I am not exaggerating the unbearable heat, here is an example... Around 4:30 in the morning on summer I was in a taxi on my way to the airport... anticipating the flight that would take me home, my excitement was only heightened by the fact that the driver couldn't see through the window due to the condensation from the humidity] changing into a mildly balmy fall, a month or two with temperatures in the 30s followed by the short perfect weather of the spring. Add in the occasional hurricaine or tropical storm, along with the exciting snowfall... actually only a dusting... and you have the weather of South Carolina.
Needless to say it is good to be home. I may be singing a different tune after a few months of below zero wind chills, but for now... I am looking out my window at the sparkling coat of new snow, and feeling as though the whole world has been renewed. A professor at my seminary assigned for each of us to create a "stained glass" that explains what justification by grace through faith means. Stained glass windows are used as an artistic portrayl that is meant to point past itself to a spiritual truth, they tell stories... they invoke emotion... they explain religious truths. So, we were able to use other artistic mediums besides colored glass in order to explain justification by grace through faith alone. Some used music, others poetry... I chose to use photography.
Photography is one of my passions, I am not a expert photographer or even know what I am doing, but I really enjoy capturing life in a photo... and get easily proud of myself when a picture turns out great. When I looked at this photo, as well as staring at the roaring waterfall itself, I saw glorious power... I saw God. While thinking about this I tried to look again and again at this photo to try and figure out where I was in the picture. I would have loved to say I am in the mist and steam rising from the falls, in an attempt to be the one who brings the beauty of God gently into the world. But... no...I thought, what if I am the building in the back... it doesn't fit in the picture of the beauty of nature... it watches from a distance the power of the falls, yet is not moved... and I really hoped this wasn't true. I realized that I am in the front of the frame in this picture, how could I have overlooked it? I am one of the dead sticks. Ok, now how is that better than the building? Well, these dead branches are part of what make this picture so beautiful... they are coated in same substance that rolls over the falls. That water has coated each branch so what you see is glistening ice, sparkling like diamonds. Furthermore, in the springtime, that ice melts into the branches bringing them to new life.
This is justification. We are broken, dead sticks. We have done nothing to deserve the gift of our new coating of ice, which makes us beautiful. When God sees us, thanks to the gift of Jesus, we are seen coated with Jesus' righteousness. And it is that same grace which nourishes us bringing new life.
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